Make spring cleaning easier and more efficient with these quick tips. Learn which home improvements can be written off your taxes. Installing a dimmer switch to your lights is super easy and can add a lot of drama to a room. Plus, get answers to your home improvement questions about, paint colors, wiring, odor removal, redecorating, popcorn ceilings, shower floor repair, preparing for selling a home, refinishing cabinets, dryer hose repair, door repair, air ventilation.

TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: And it’s almost here. We’re talking about springtime. It happens this week. So what is on your spring to-do list? What? You don’t have one? Well, let’s create one right now. Think about it. What are you doing inside your house, outside your house? It’s time when we do two things for our homes: first, we clean them and then we fix them up. We can help you with both if you call us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.

And speaking of cleaning, we’ve got a terrific list of spring-cleaning do’s and don’ts to help smooth that process along, coming up in today’s show.

LESLIE: And with springtime comes that other horrible time: tax time. Hooray!

But I do have some good news, guys. You know, you might be able to deduct some of those home improvements that you made last year. We are going to speak with an expert on how you can cut your tax costs while fixing up your home at the same time.

TOM: And if you spent a fortune on home décor but the room still doesn’t look like a million bucks, it might be the lighting. We’re going to tell you, this hour, how a simple dimmer switch and 15 minutes of your time can completely change the look of that room and really add some style and some drama to the space.

LESLIE: And also this hour, we’re giving away a prize package of awesome household storage and cleaning tools from Casabella worth $50. And it’s going out to one lucky caller who reaches us on the air with their home improvement question.

TOM: So call us right now. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Karen in Arizona is on the line with an air-conditioning question. How can we help you today?

KAREN: Yeah, I was just curious which is a better choice between the Ruud and the Trane. I need four units. I have to replace them all.

TOM: Yeah, it’s a good question. I would look at a couple of things.

First of all, they’re both good brands. So I would look at the efficiency rating for all of the units. I would look at the warranties for the units and I also would make sure that you choose your HVAC contractor carefully. Because a lot of the efficiencies in these systems rely heavily on the quality of the installation. So, we do want to be very careful about who’s installing it. Make sure the ducts are all sealed and that kind of stuff. Because if not, you’re going to have inefficiencies as you use the system as time goes on.

But they’re both great brands, so I think you can’t go wrong either way. Just make sure when you’re comparing apples to apples that you make sure they each have the same efficiencies and warranties.

KAREN: Well, you said something about ducts.

TOM: Yeah, the duct system that feeds the air to the different rooms, you want to make sure those ducts are properly installed and that they’re sealed. Because a lot of times, where ducts are joined, especially in older homes, those intersections are not sealed properly and a lot of air leaks out there. So the little things like that have a big impact on efficiency of the system.

KAREN: OK. And the other question is – I have a pet-boarding business and I’m trying to use some sort of air filter that will get – will take up smells. Do you know if any are better than others? Because I put the Oreck and another brand in the cat room and I can still smell cats.

TOM: Yeah, I bet. That certainly would be the test of any HVAC – any filtration system.

Well, look, the best filtration systems are really designed more for dust than for odor. However, I know that 3M has one that has a charcoal base to it that is far more efficient at taking odors out than just about anything else out there. And so – is this a forced-air system that you would have for that area, as well?

KAREN: No, this is just – like I had gone into one pet-boarding place and I smelled urine really bad and I thought, “This isn’t going to make it, this place, because of the urine.” And then they had four filters that were sitting on the wall, just – they kind of look like a mini-Oreck. They were on the wall, hung on the wall, just like the size of maybe 1 foot by 1½ feet. A little rectangle? And they really took the smell out and I don’t know which brand she used.

LESLIE: Now, Karen, I think the issue that you’re having in finding something that is going to work well for you is that we really want to make sure that we find you something that works from a commercial standpoint: something that’s made for a business like yours, which has a lot of animal odors.

And there’s a company out there called Air Oasis and that’s their website: AirOasis.com. And if you click on their Commercial section, you’ll find that they’ve got commercial air purifiers and air sanitizers that are carbon based and they will really reduce a lot of this odor and bacteria and viruses and VOCs.

So I would check them out and there might be something that would work well for you there.

KAREN: Alright. Yeah, that’d be good. It might help for smokers, too. I don’t smoke but in case the audience is listening. So, OK, I will go to Air Oasis. Thank you so much.

TOM: You’re welcome, Karen. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Now on the line, we’ve got Pat in Michigan who’s dealing with a problem in a home’s addition. Tell us what you’re working on.

PAT: Well, I had added onto my house in 2003 and added on a small room in a garage. And what I’ve noticed just recently is a door that exits this addition – that the security door won’t close.

TOM: OK.

PAT: And then if I looked into the house, I see where the door is also sagging and then I see a crack radiating from the corner of the door at the top. So, it looks to me like this addition is settling. That side has gone down, which has caused the security door to not close.

TOM: Now, can you clarify for me – you mentioned that this was over a garage?

PAT: No, no, no. This was an addition to the house, which included a room and a garage.

TOM: OK.

PAT: This room I’m talking about is 10x20. And it’s one of the walls – it’s one wall, which is 10 foot long and that’s where I see the problem. If you look on the outside of the house, it’s brick, this addition, and there’s nothing noticeable from the outside: no cracks in the brick, no movement of the brick that you could see. You’re just seeing it on the inside of the house.

TOM: I think you should rehang the door at this point. The type of crack that you are mentioning is pretty common, because that’s the weakest part in the wall frame. And I’d like for you, before we do anything that’s too drastic in terms of reinforcing foundations during that kind of a project – we don’t know that it’s that bad. This might just be some normal settlement. So I’d like to suggest that you pull the door out and rehang it, square it up and then watch it and see what happens.

PAT: OK. I appreciate it.

TOM: Alright. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. Now you can call in your home repair or your home improvement question 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

TOM: 888-666-3974.

Up next, sometimes the difference between a knockout room and one that’s simply not is the lighting. We’re going to tell you how simple it is to achieve that knockout look, after this.

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TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. The number here is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

Now, one caller that we talk to on the air this hour is going to have a cleaner and more organized home this springtime, thanks to a giveaway from Casabella. Now, the package has five products, including some cool gloves made of microfiber, which are designed to help you clean blinds. That’s pretty smart, because cleaning blinds is kind of a pain in the butt and your hands really are the best thing, so that’s great. Just put them on and you wipe away all the grime and dust and dirt.

You can check them out and other Casabella products at Casabella.com. And we’ve got a prize package worth $50 up for grabs, so give us a call at 888-MONEY-PIT for your chance to win.’

TOM: 888-666-3974.

LESLIE: Bill in Hawaii has got a squeaky faucet.

Bill, tell us what’s going on.

BILL: When I turn a faucet on anywhere in the house or I flush a toilet, I hear – there’s a high-pitched whine. And it doesn’t seem to make any difference where and which faucet, whether it’s hot or cold or upstairs or downstairs. I get this quite high-pitched whine or high tone in the plumbing.

LESLIE: Does it go away after it’s been running awhile or does it stay on?

BILL: No. As long as I have a faucet on, it continues.

Now, I went on the internet and one of the suggestions was that there was a pressure regulator on the input water to the house. So, a month ago, I was pulling and adjusted that one way and it got worse. So just yesterday, I went and turned it the other way and now it seems to get better. Now it just has a high-pitched whine when you turn it on or shut it off but not during. Is that a possible – something wrong there?

TOM: Yeah. I mean it’s probably the pressure regulator or even the main water valve. And the reason that you have such a loud noise is because plumbing makes a really good transmitter of sound, you know? So, if you get a little bit of noise down one end of it, it will transmit through the entire house. And the fact that this is consistent no matter where you are in the house and what you turn on means that it should be at the main, coming into the house, because that’s the only pipe that’s on all the time.

So, I think you’re onto something there with the pressure regulator and I would consider having that replaced and/or the main valve replaced, because I think that’s where the sound is coming from, based on what you’ve just described.

BILL: Alright. Well, hey, very good. I appreciate it.

TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Now we’ve got Elizabeth in Idaho who’s dealing with some siding that’s coming apart. Tell us about it.

ELIZABETH: I have a 1970-built house and with composite siding on the entire house. But on the west side – where it gets most of the weather, the heat and the rain and wind and so forth – the horizontal siding has split where the siding joins themselves and has spread open as much as a ¼- to ½-inch.

TOM: Was it just in one area or is it all over the place?

ELIZABETH: It’s mostly on the west side of the house that gets the brunt of the weather.

TOM: OK. So many places it’s coming apart or just a couple of places?

ELIZABETH: Quite a few, quite a few. I’d say 10 places on the back of the house.

TOM: I would caulk the seams. If it’s ¼- to ½-inch, I would caulk it. I would get caulk that’s colored to match the siding and I would apply a bead of caulk. Because the other thing to do, of course, is to put new siding in. You would have to cut out the old siding and overlap that space and then paint it and it’s a really big project. So, I would caulk it and call it a day.

ELIZABETH: OK. We have tried that and we’ve used a product – is it OK if I say the name of the product?

TOM: Sure.

ELIZABETH: It’s DAP – D-A-P.

TOM: Right.

ELIZABETH: And we used DAP DYNAFLEX 230. And we’ve also tried DAP Alex Plus. And after we put that in, we went out to look at it after about two or three days and then the – that area has just gone concave. So it’s just sunk into the siding, so it leaves a big concave area where it was once just a crack.

Now, can we put something over that? Should we just keep putting layers on?

TOM: I think there’s a misunderstanding with what you’re trying to accomplish here, OK? What we want to do is keep the moisture from getting in there. And when you caulk, yes, it is going to dry and it’s going to shrink and actually sort of fill in very tightly any gap that you have there. You’re not using a wood filler, OK? You’re using a caulk.

And so I would not worry about small concave gaps like that in between the caulk; that’s what I would expect it to do. Doing that, if you want to paint it over so it’s all the same color, you can probably blend it in more. But that is exactly what it should be doing.

ELIZABETH: Alright. Well, it’s just kind of unsightly where it comes together; it’s just a big concave area. But it looks better than the crack, so …

LESLIE: Well, one of the easiest ways to take a room from drab to fantastic is with a change in the lighting. Now, you’d be surprised at the spark you can add to a room simply by dimming the lights.

Lutron, one of our trusted Money Pit sponsors, has a dimmer that works with both CFL and LED light bulbs. There’s no confusion there. And it’s great, not only for adding attractive lighting but also for saving energy.

TOM: Yeah, it’s called the Lutron Skylark Contour Dimmer. It’s super-easy to install and in fact, you can learn how to install this if you participate in The Home Depot’s Do-It-Herself Workshop on March 21st, which is presented by Lutron.

Now, this is going to be a free, nationwide workshop. It’s being held at over 2,000 Home Depots. And if you attend, you’ll get expert instruction that will answer even your most basic questions.

And you can learn more about the workshops at HomeDepot.com and more about the Lutron products at ChooseLutron.com.

LESLIE: And if you happen to be in the New York City area on March 21st– that’s this week, guys – Tom and I are going to be conducting the Do-It-Herself Workshop at The Home Depot in Midtown. Stop by, say hello. We’re giving away some books. We want to teach you guys how to install a dimmer. We are there for you, so pop in and say hello if you happen to be around.

TOM: Yeah, we’d love to see you there.

888-666-3974. We’d also love to get you to pick up the phone and call us with your home improvement question.

Leslie, who’s next?

LESLIE: Tommy in Nebraska, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

TOMMY: My question concerns my dryer. I moved into a house that had the washer and dryer already here in my laundry room. And when I was cleaning back behind the dryer – the dryer hose is aluminum type and it’s attached with tape. Obviously, not done correctly. And what I want to know is: what would you recommend? Is there a better dryer-vent hose or a tube of some kind? It’s a fairly short distance from the wall to the dryer.

TOM: If it’s the flexible aluminum hose, then that – I would probably go ahead and put that back in. If it’s vinyl, I would not. But you’re sure it’s aluminum, right?

TOMMY: It is. It’s like shiny aluminum foil.

LESLIE: Yeah. And that’s the one that you want there, because that’s heat-resistant.

TOMMY: Oh, you do. OK.

LESLIE: Yes.

TOMMY: Rather than the white vinyl? It’s better than the white vinyl.

LESLIE: Right. Because the white vinyl could overheat and potentially cause a fire hazard. So the aluminum one is great, because it won’t hold onto all of that heat.

Now, the question is: where does your dryer hose vent to? Does it go to the outside? Has it been cleaned in a while? These are all maintenance things that you need to be doing for your dryer.

TOMMY: Right, Leslie. And that’s what I wanted to do because I am so afraid of fire hazards. OK, so I need to detach it? And it is vented to an outside vent.

TOM: So what you should do is get a dryer-vent cleaning brush. There is one that’s available online called the Gardus LintEater. Leslie and I both have one of these brushes. They’re really cool. They’re like brushes on the end of fiberglass rods. And you stick them into a drill and just spin them into the vent and go back and forth and pull them out.

TOMMY: Oh, my goodness.

TOM: And you’d be amazed how much dust comes out of those things. So that’s one – I’m sure you could probably find it at a home center or at a hardware store, as well. But a dryer-duct cleaning brush is what you really need for that.

TOMMY: OK. And then when I reattach that hose to the vent and then to the dryer, obviously I don’t want to use tape, which is what they’ve used.

TOM: There’s a big bracket that is sort of like a clamp that fits around that. And it goes over the hose and the hose goes over the vent and then it all sort of screws together. And I’m sure you could also find those at a home center or a hardware store. No, you should definitely not tape it together.

TOMMY: I will do that. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: Paul in Michigan needs some help with a cabinet-refinishing project. What’s going on?

PAUL: Well, I have some cabinets I’m refinishing and I have polyurethane over a stain on these cabinets.

LESLIE: OK.

PAUL: And I’m wondering whether I should put an oil-based primer on there or a latex primer. I’ve had several different opinions.

LESLIE: Are you painting them?

PAUL: Yes. Painting.

LESLIE: OK. Have you done anything to sort of scuff up the surface to make it a little bit more susceptible to that primer?

LESLIE: Yeah. Because that’s really the first step. You want to rough up that surface a little bit to make it more ready to have that primer adhere, as best as it’s going to, to the surface. You can use regular sandpaper. You can use a little orbital sander. You can actually even use something called the Liquid Sander, which is a liquid material that you brush on and that sort of roughs up the surface, as well. Basically, you just want to clean it and scuff up that surface and mar into that polyurethane a bit so that primer will stick.

Now, between the oil and the latex – you know, you’re in a situation where you’ve got a lot of moisture, a lot of dirt and grime. An oil-based primer, I think, is going to adhere best to a cabinet situation and then allow your paint to adhere well as a result.

PAUL: OK. And then should I use an oil-based paint, as well?

LESLIE: No, I would use a latex top coat. Something with a gloss or a urethane over a matte finish, just so that you get a good sheen that’s easily cleanable. If you’re going with a urethane or some sort of top coat, you want to make sure that it’s non-yellowing. Because in kitchens, for some reason, all of that humidity and that grime tends to yellow those surfaces.

PAUL: Well, thank you very much. That’s very helpful.

TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

LESLIE: You are tuned to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. Well, if you’re grumbling over your taxes right about now, we’ve got some good news. You might be able to deduct some of those home improvements that you’ve made. We’re going to tell you which ones, after this.

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TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Well, it’s inevitable. No matter how long you put it off, your tax returns cannot be ignored. The only thing that you can do is to take a sting out of the process, a little bit, by getting as many deductions as you are legally entitled to get.

LESLIE: And in fact, if you are an avid do-it-yourselfer – and my guess is that if you’re listening to us right now, you probably are – then you might actually not be aware of all the different deductions that are really available. So here to tell us about home related tax deductions and tax credits is M. Casey Murdock, the author of Tax Insight.

First of all, what’s the difference, really, and is there from a deduction and a credit? How does that work?

CASEY: Oh, there’s definitely a difference. A deduction is – basically, with the way you think about it is the percentage rate of your marginal tax bracket. So, you hear people say, “Oh, I’m in the 25-percent tax bracket.” That translates, for a deduction, to how much you’re going to save in taxes for that particular deduction. You spend $1,000, you’re in the 25-percent tax bracket, you save $250. A credit is dollar for dollar. If you get a $200 credit, it’s $200 off your taxes. So that’s the big difference between the two.

TOM: So the credits are definitely more valuable than the deductions. And the first one that you would like to talk about is the Non-Business Energy Property Credit. Is this what we get if we make energy-efficient improvements to our home?

CASEY: Yes. Specifically for things that save energy, not for energy equipment. So, things like exterior doors and windows, insulation, heat pumps, furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, that kind of stuff. There’s a credit available for that up through this year. In fact, it didn’t exist last year. It had expired but they’ve retroactively put it back in effect.

TOM: We’re talking to Casey Murdock – he’s the author of Tax Insight – about home improvement projects that can actually give you a tax benefit when it comes to that all-important time of year when we’re all required to file our income tax returns.

Casey, let me ask you about another type of tax credit called an Energy Property Credit. We talked earlier about the home improvement credits for energy-saving projects like windows and doors and heating-and-cooling systems. How does the Energy Property Credit differ from those? It seems like it’s aimed more at some of the alternative energy sources for fueling our homes.

CASEY: Exactly. That’s exactly what it’s for. So if you put in a solar water heater or solar electricity or fuel-cell plants or even wind energy or geothermal heat pump, those kinds of things can go towards this credit. It’s also a non-refundable credit but the credit is for 30 percent of the cost of the equipment, with no maximum.

TOM: Now, that’s actually pretty valuable because, as you said earlier, the maximum credit on all those other improvements is about 500 bucks. With 30 percent of the cost of the equipment, really is a good inducement to consider doing solar panels or geothermal heat pumps or other alternative energy systems, which can be quite costly to install. But if you’re going to get a 30-percent credit off the cost of that, it makes a lot of sense to give it a shot.

CASEY: Yeah, definitely. That’s a – there’s a huge help there with that one.

There is one that has a cap. It’s the – for fuel cells. You can only claim 500 per ½-kilowatt hour of production capacity. But other than that, it’s open on that one.

LESLIE: And one more thing, Casey. I think it’s important because in this economy, people are really looking to maintain as much income as possible. And that, I think, has been leading to a lot of rental properties and a lot of people who don’t really know what it’s like to be a landlord, if you know what I’m saying. So, is there any benefit there to maintaining these properties and offering them as rentals, from a tax credit or a deduction standpoint?

CASEY: Anything that you do to your property, as a rental, can either be expensed or depreciated. Depreciated means you have to break up that cost over a number of years; you can’t take it all at once. But the – some keys there, some tricks of the trade would be – first, if something can be claimed as a repair instead of an improvement, then you can expense the entire amount that year, whereas an improvement has to be depreciated over a certain amount of time.

Another key is if you are making improvements – let’s say you’re going to replace the roof and the carpet and the windows, it’s good to have each of those itemized on the bill if you’re not doing it yourself. Or even if you do it yourself, the cost for each of those itemized out – so that you can depreciate them at different rates. You know, gutters on your house might have to be depreciated over 30 years but the carpet, for a rental, is 5. So you can take those expenses a lot sooner.

TOM: Casey Murdock, author of Tax Insight, thanks so much for stopping by The Money Pit and giving us some tips on how our home improvement projects can help save us some money on our taxes.

And if you’d like more information on Casey’s book, Tax Insight, you can visit Apress.com. That’s the letter A – press.com.

LESLIE: Well, we know you’ve got limited time when it comes to cleaning – it’s everybody’s least favorite chore – so we’re going to tell you how to make the most of the time that you do have, after this.

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TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Give us a call right now with your home improvement question at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.

One caller chosen at random is going to get a great head start on spring cleaning, with storage and cleaning products from Casabella. The prize package includes a microfiber window washer that squirts out just enough water to get your glass squeaky clean. The package is worth 50 bucks. You can see all the Casabella products at Casabella.com. And call us right now at 1-888-MONEY-PIT for your chance to win.

KIM: My shower floor is basically coming up. All the tile is coming up and it’s been doing that for a few months. And we’re debating with – should we repair it or should we just replace the whole shower? It’s kind of an old house anyway and we were thinking – we were getting ready to sell it. So, should we put the money in to replace it or should we just try to repair it? I don’t want to patch it up for anybody but if it’s repaired, I really want to do a good job to where they can use it.

TOM: So this is sort of a walk-in shower stall? Is that what this is and it’s made of tile?

KIM: It’s made of tile, yes. Walk-in.

TOM: Listen, the restoration on this is to replace the shower pan. It’s a pretty big job, because you have to tear out the tile that’s there and put in a new pan, which is typically fiberglass today, and then retile over all of that. So that’s a big project.

KIM: Appearance, right. I mean it’s – the tile’s basically coming up. We have like a rubber – what do you call those little rubber things that you put in a – just to stand in the shower?

TOM: Right, right. Yeah, the anti-slip mats and that sort of thing.

KIM: Right, right. Mm-hmm.

TOM: Yeah. Listen, I don’t know that I would do that repair. If it’s not leaking, then you don’t really have a responsibility to repair it. Of course, if you want to do a bath restoration – a bath renovation – you could. Whether that’s going to make your house any more or less likely to sell, I don’t know. You really need to know what’s going on in your neighborhood.

But that’s a really big repair to do – when it’s not necessary, it’s not leaking – for the sole purpose of trying to sell your house. If it was a cracked shower pan and it was leaking, I’d be telling you something different. But if it’s not leaking, I’d leave it alone and put my money elsewhere in terms of fixing up the house.

KIM: Great. That’s what I needed to hear.

TOM: Well, have you been feeling the itch to give your house that really good onceover cleaning that comes with spring? It is high time you do just that. We’ve got some do’s and don’ts to make that project go more smoothly.

LESLIE: That’s right. First up, that often overlooked upholstery. You can rent an upholstery-cleaning machine but don’t do anything without testing a small patch first, so you can avoid any surprises.

Now, for the pillows, most of those cases can be removed and you can have those covers either dry-cleaned or machine-washed. It really depends on the fabric. And if you don’t know what it is, just bring it to the cleaners. For a couple of bucks, they’ll clean those cases and it really does make a huge difference.

TOM: Now, here’s a tip for window cleaning. You don’t want to do that when the sun is shining through, because the sun will cause the cleaner to evaporate and that will leave streaks with a dull residue.

For ceiling fans, you want to make the cleaning easier by dusting the blades once a season with a U-shaped brush. And after washing the blades, don’t forget to dry them, as the wet blades will still attract dust once again. You don’t want to go through that when you just got done cleaning them.

If you want more quick, spring-cleaning tips just like that, just search “spring cleaning” at MoneyPit.com.

LESLIE: Evelyn in North Carolina, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

EVELYN: Yes, ma’am. I have wanted to redo my – they call it a living room now but it’s mostly your front room? And I wanted to know if I wanted to have it made over – the whole room – do you have any suggestions about how I could go about getting that done? The exception is I have this really big, huge desk that I have to keep in the room.

TOM: So you’re looking for a decorator to help you sort of redo the room. Is that correct?

EVELYN: Yes.

LESLIE: Well, there is an association of interior decorators; it’s ASID. And these are folks that are registered with the Interior Decorating Society. And they’re listed by zip code. You can go to the website, ASID – I don’t know if it’s .org, .com. And that way, you can find a decorator in your area.

I will let you know that pricing ranges from decorator to decorator. Some will do an hourly consulting fee, some will do a flat fee, some will do a percentage of the items ordered. It really depends on the project. I think if you start at that website and start looking for people in your area, visit their websites, take a look at the style of work that they do. This way, you can find somebody that matches your décor. And then that’s a good way to find somebody that’ll fit well.

EVELYN: OK. Well, listen, that was what I wanted to know. You think that would be worth the while?

LESLIE: Oh, absolutely. I think it makes sense to start that way.

EVELYN: Oh, OK. Well, thank you.

TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.

BETSY: My question is how to remove popcorn ceiling. We have a bonus room above our garage that the popcorn ceiling was falling down in spots.

TOM: OK.

BETSY: And we scraped and scraped and we weren’t getting very far with it and we damaged the drywall with gouges from being scraped. So my husband put stippling on the ceiling to cover up the gouges and I don’t think it looks good at all.

TOM: OK.

BETSY: It looks dumb.

TOM: So he kind of put more texture back on where he had the old texture?

BETSY: Yes.

TOM: Yeah. So now do you have to remove the stippling, which was probably done with the spackle, correct?

BETSY: Yes.

TOM: Ugh. Boy, I tell you what, you made it – it went from bad to worse. You know what I would do if I wanted a really clean ceiling and that was the situation? I would knock down as much of that as was physically possible, so it’s nice and flat, make sure as much of the popcorn is gone as possible and then I would put a second layer of drywall over the whole thing. Tape it, prime it, paint it and be done with it. You’ll have a brand-new ceiling.

LESLIE: Bury it. Hide it.

TOM: I’m like, “Bury it.” Because that drywall is probably so damaged now from the scraping off of the old popcorn to the adding of the stipple. And then you’re going to have to sand and get rid of that. I just don’t think that – all the work that’s going to be worth you putting into that is just not worth it. You’re just not going to get a really clean look. So why don’t you just put a second layer of drywall over it? It’s really clean, easy to do and it will look much, much better in the long run.

BETSY: Right. And then we – our other ceilings have popcorn but we haven’t tackled that. So is there an easier way to get it off?

TOM: Well, here’s the right way to do it – is that you would dampen it and then you would scrape it.

LESLIE: So you use a paint sprayer or a garden pump sprayer and then you just lightly spray that on the ceiling. Get it wet. You’re going to have to cover everything; it is a messy job. And then you just scrape it away with a spackle knife.

TOM: And by the way, though, if you want to buy yourself some time and maybe – what happens with the popcorn, it gets dirty and grungy-looking. You can actually paint that. There’s a special type of roller that’s a very thick roller that’s got sort of slits in it and presses the paint up inside the sort of the pieces of popcorn. And you can get a nice bright, clean look to it. So, it is possible to paint that and have it look a lot nicer and a lot cleaner.

BETSY: Alright. Well, thank you very much.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Up next, do you need to breathe new life into a tired, old room? We’re going to tell you which two colors, borrowed from nature, will do just that, after this.

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TOM: Making good homes better, welcome back to The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

Hey, are you looking for ways to beef up your home security but you don’t have the budget for a fancy alarm system? Well, head on over to MoneyPit.com and search “cheap home security tricks.” You’re going to get some tips on how things like lighting and landscape can increase your home security. That’s all on MoneyPit.com. Search “cheap home security tips.”

And while you’re there, you can head on over to the Community section and post your home improvement question, just like Alan from Tennessee did. “I’m moving into a house previously owned by a cigarette smoker. I plan to rip up the carpet but do you have any suggestions for getting rid of the smell besides that?”

TOM: Well, that is certainly a good first step, because anything that’s like that – carpets and drapes – is really just a sponge for that odor.

Now, a lot of folks will rip up the carpet and they’ll take up the padding and that’s great. There’s one additional step that we would recommend that you do and that is to add primer to the subfloor. Let me presume that the floor under that is plywood or some other non-finished building material. Be a really good idea for you to paint that floor with an oil-based, stain-blocking primer, because that will seal the pores of the wood and stop any smoke odor that’s soaked in the wood from kind of getting back out.

Now, of course, if you have hardwood floor under that, well, that’s a nice surprise. And in that case, this advice does not apply. We certainly don’t want you to paint your finished floor. But if you’ve got plywood or something of that nature, definitely paint it.

And that also goes for the walls. You always want to use a primer on the walls. And getting ready to prime those walls, you want to clean them first with a TSP solution. That’s trisodium phosphate. You’ll find that in the painting aisle, as well. You mix up a soapy solution of this, wash the walls down really good. But if you wash them good and use primer on those surfaces, that does a really good job of sealing in those smoke odors.

LESLIE: Alright. Next up, we’ve got one from Benny in Utah who writes: “One outlet in my living room always flickers. I’ve changed out the bulb and the lamp that’s usually plugged into it but it still flickers. Is this a sign of something serious?”

TOM: Well, if you’ve changed the bulb and you’ve changed the lamp and it’s still flickering, yeah, then obviously there’s something going on with that outlet. And it potentially could be something serious.

I’ve got to tell you, it always surprises me how those outlets will deteriorate. One time I was doing a project, Leslie, where I had to take apart an outlet for a TV show. And as I was doing this and I looked around the back, it turned out the outlet was completely burned out and we had no idea.

So if you’re getting that flickering, that could be a sign that there’s a problem with the outlet. You definitely should call an electrician and have them take a look at it.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm. And you know what? If you’re looking for a way to save some money with that electrician’s visit, look around the house, put together sort of a punch list of things you want them to look at, because they’re going to charge you by the hour anyway. So you might as well get a bunch of stuff done.

TOM: Well, for this year’s “in” paint colors for home decorating, just take a look at the blues and the green outdoors for inspiration. Leslie has got the details, in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word.

LESLIE: That’s right. Green is trendier than ever. It’s always been a symbolic color of new life and a perfect way to breathe new life into any room. But don’t stop there. You can throw in some blues and I’m not talking about that boring bachelor blue of the 90s. You can mix in a calming blue with the green for a beautiful aquamarine, teal or turquoise. You know, true blues can be really calming for interiors, as well. Robin’s egg or even a sky blue can really lift your spirits and create a soothing space.

Now, green and blue work really well together and I don’t know why so many designers refused to combine them for so long. So give them a try together and see that they’re not only trendy but actually really pretty. And when you’ve got these two colors working in your space, you’ll see that they’ll actually make you feel better to be around.

TOM: This is The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Coming up next time on The Money Pit, you want to create a gigantic wow factor? Well, why not create an exterior landscape lighting scheme. That will do it and we’ll tell you how, on the next edition of The Money Pit.

I’m Tom Kraeutler.

LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete.

TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself ...

LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone.

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(Copyright 2013 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.)